Can young Israeli & Palestinian female students make history? Can they reach an agreement on solutions to one of the most difficult conflicts in the history of the world?

50 Israeli & Palestinian female students will negotiate trust building measures, suspension of the violent struggle, and solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the Arab-Hebrew Theater, Jaffa-Tel-Aviv. The negotiations are open to all and the public is welcome to join the negotiations as active observers. The congress will be held in the presence of international observers.

The Congress of the Female Students is an important step towards the establishment of a major Israeli-Palestinian Public Negotiating Congress – a powerful peacemaking institution that will operate over a period of time. This peacemaking institution is designed to involve the people in the peacemaking efforts and motivate the leaderships, on the opposing sides, to conclude agreements.

Dr. Sapir Handelman - an Israeli who received the Peter Becker Award in Peace & Conflict Research - leads the initiative. Dr. Handelman and his colleagues have successfully led around 40 Israeli-Palestinian public negotiating congresses – named the Minds of Peace Experiment - in leading universities around the US and Canada, in conference halls in Israel and the West Bank, and in central public places in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

This is the first time that only female students are going to sit around the negotiating table. This is an unusual and powerful event in the Middle East. Female students initiated the ‘Congress of the Female Students’ and they will lead it.